Enrollment up at UC

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Enrollment is up at the University of Charleston this year and is the second highest it has been in 40 years.

UC has more than 1,391 full-time students this fall, up 4 percent from last year's 1,339, according to a university press release. Total enrollment, which includes part-time students, is 1,445.

A factor in UC's enrollment growth is the Charleston-based school's announcement in August that it would take over Mountain State University's Beckley and Martinsburg campuses when MSU goes out of business at the end of the year.

Mountain State became the first university in West Virginia to lose its general accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission in early July for years of breakdowns in leadership, program oversight, integrity issues and failing to properly communicate with students.

The university has made a big push to get MSU students to transfer to UC. This year, 46 students from MSU transferred to UC. UC also credits its enrollment growth to the recent addition of a doctoral program in pharmacy and a new downtown graduate school of business.